While Others Shone Like Fire
by Lux's Sister
Summary: It doesn't matter if you're an Imperial, a rebel, or on your own side, accidents happen. It was only a matter of time before the Onderon Con Men's luck ran out. With the men out of commission, the con women must to save their family and complete their job as they face an old foe, new dangers, and Captain Rex on pain medication. [While Others #9]
1. Signal 30

**WHILE OTHERS SHONE LIKE FIRE**

 **By LS**

 **CHAPTER ONE – SIGNAL 30**

"I still maintain that we could have gone after the fire rubies."

Lux turns around in his seat in disbelief, eyes boggled at Hutch. "What do you mean, we could have gone after the fire rubies?"

"The guy had a bag of them. Do you know how much those things are worth on the HoloNet?" Hutch cries. "I could have auctioned them off thirty different people, no questions asked, and we would have been able to put fuel in the ship for two years, no problem!"

"Before or after we pay for the stuff for my broken nose?" Saw asks. "Unless you were planning on magically lifting them with the power of the HoloNet, I'm the one who has to walk in and actually pick up a bag of illegal fire rubies. And I don't want to be the guy who takes thousands of credits' worth of gems from the desk guy, who's really a hired gun."

"And how can you tell he's a hired gun?"

"Last I checked, desk guys don't routinely carry ceramic vibroblades."

No one really can argue with that. Saw and Hutch's discussion fizzles out, and the only sound is the road noise of the speeder's servos and the air rushing through Lux's cracked window.

"I'd like to commend you all on such an excellent job grifting, especially since Sierra wasn't there to prompt," Tandin says, breaking the silence. "The ladies would be very impressed."

"Why weren't they here again?" Saw asks.

"Because Ahsoka is supposedly a Togrutan princess who the mark paid through the nose to spring from custody, and the rest of the girls were her advisors and allies," Lux explains. "It's the Spanish Prisoner, Hutch. We told the mark that we worked for Ahsoka, who was in custody by a rival tribe, and if he donated to help her escape then she would reward him handsomely. We started out with a couple hundred credits, and then brought him news about Ahsoka, pictures of her, and all the while we upped the donations. He's shelled out plenty for the Alliance, and for those mine workers who lost their jobs."

"Why'd he keep donating?"

…

 _The mark stared at the hologram, barely believing his eyes. "Princess Vasthee?"_

 _"Yes, I am Princess Zaa Vashtee," Ahsoka said, her smile dazzling even on the hologram, even more dazzling than the bejeweled headdress on her head. "And I am forever in your debt, sir. Thank you for helping my men deliver me from custody."_

 _If only he knew that on the other end of the transmission the gems in the headdress were mere plastic, Ahsoka was faking the genteel speech from a truly impressive number of movies, and one room over Steela Gerrera was trying with all her might to keep Ahsoka's two kids from eating Play-Dough._

 _…_

"We produced holographic and video evidence that Ahsoka had escaped, and when we came around today it was just for the final donation to get her court on its feet again. That's why I thought we could still go after those fire rubies." Hutch sulks.

"You have his banking information; don't get too greedy," Rex admonishes.

"I'm a thief! It's my job to be greedy, at least a little. It's not like you don't steal, and don't tell me you object to the stuff Steela pickpockets."

"I never steal too much, and neither does she."

"No, but you two steal what you like. Maybe you should steal her an engagement ring."

Rex stammers. "W-what?"

"Well you're going to marry her, right?" Lux jests.

"Of course, but not right now." It's all Rex can do not to gently smack his friends, as he would his brothers. Did the joke about marriage end when he and Steela got together? No. Would it be a hundred times worse if Fives, Hardcase, and the rest of the 501st was behind it? Oh, most certainly yes.

"You just need some lessons in being smooth," Hutch jokes, using his hand to smooth back his hair. "Here's how you do it, Rex. You've got to be all _hey, Steela."_ He crosses his arms and leans up against the edge of his seat with a cocky grin plastered on his face. _"I've been thinking, it's about time we take our relationship up to the_ next level."

"Not another word, Hutch," Rex says, captain face on. "That's disrespectful – if I said that to Steela, she would draw and quarter me!"

"Yeah, she is kind of intense."

"Does Hero know you talk like this?"

Hutch bleaches. "I was just joking around, Rex. I mean, Hero and I get a little flirtatious, but nothing like this. Don't tell her!"

There's a tense silence, and then Rex guffaws. "You should have seen the look on your face, St. James!"

The tension evaporates, and all the men laugh.

"Hutch is in no place to lecture you anyway, Rex." Saw says. "When he asked Hero out the first time, he was so nervous he could barely speak!"

 _"Gentlemen,"_ Tandin interjects. "Enough with torturing Rex and Hutch Let's enjoy the ride back to the ship and listen to the radio."

"That sounds like a good idea," Lux agrees and reaches for the dials. "What station? I'm willing to listen to anything that isn't kids' music."

It only takes an instant, a fraction of a second where Lux's eyes are on the radio dials and not focused on the road ahead of him. A fraction of a second for his blind steering to slip, or something to flash through his peripheral vision unnoticed.

When asked about it later, no one knows how it happened. All they remember is the sound of laughter and happiness in the speeder; Lux's fingers teasing the first strains of a funky song out of the radio speakers.

And then there's nothing but slamming impact and twisting durasteel, the funky song forever silenced by the scream of metal on metal and the wailing of sirens.

…

The fire department and the stormtroopers arrive on the scene, signaled by a bevy of frantic calls reporting the accident.

A laundry van with a twisted bumper is parked next to the destroyed speeder, its driver pacing the ground until one of the officers approaches him.

"Their light turned red right before they hit the intersection," he babbles. "I tried to stop or swerve around them, but it all happened so fast…"

"It's all right," the officer reassures him. The fire department buzzes around the vehicle, lifting the passengers onto stretchers.

"I keep a crowbar in my trunk. I pried their doors open so they could get out, but they couldn't do it. I didn't touch them or anything because I know you're not supposed to, and that guy with the blue speeder used his fire extinguisher to make sure nothing was on fire," the van driver babbles.

"You did the right thing," the officer confirms. "I'm going to ask you to come down to the station with me to fill out an accident report, but first I need to notify these men's families of what happened. Do you know any of them?" The driver shakes his head, so the officer moves on to his backup plan. Once the paramedics have the men loaded onto stretchers, he grabs each's bag of personal effects and sifts through it until he finds a comlink he can unlock.

He pores through the contacts. Unfortunately for him, the comlink's owner is a fan of nicknames – no "Mom" or "Dad" in sight. He finds such gems as "Scary Woman", "General Awesome," "Lucky Boy" and "T-Rex", but nothing which count point him to the man's family. He's about to just pick one of the contacts – "Scary Woman" looks promising – until he finds it on his second scroll through. "Sister", decorated with a little happy face.

He dials the number and pulls out the man's ID, reading his name.

 _"Hey, you guys are late!"_

"Ma'am, my name is Officer Short," the officer says, his stomach twisting in knots. "Are you the next of kin to Mr. Jaime Vashtor?"

 **STEELA**

"The guys were supposed to be back by now."

Hero eyes the dinner table suspiciously. "I can only keep lunch warm for so long, and 'so long' is coming to an end, quick. Ahsoka and I have kids to feed, and after a while jogan slices just don't cut it anymore."

"Forget this," Ahsoka looks into the common room, where Tav sits on the floor playing with his tooka doll. "Tav, it's time for lunch. I don't know where your father is."

Tav throws down Mr. Tooka and zooms over to the table. "What are we having, Mommy?"

Thank goodness Tav grew out of his "I will eat nothing but chicken nuggets" phase a while ago. When Ahsoka tells him "Bantha burgers," Tav's only response is to ask for ketchup.

"How about you, Kiara?" Ahsoka asks her daughter as she straps her into the highchair. "Do you want _carrots,_ or _peas?"_

"Pi!" Kiara shrieks. She's in the stage where she only says fragments of words or sentences, and I think it's adorable.

"Peas! What a great choice." She opens up the jar of pureed peas and fills her spoon.

Mina pulls out her chair and takes a seat at the table. "As much as I hate to leave the men behind, lunch is getting cold. Sierra, please pass the mustard."

Sierra has only just reached for the mustard bottle to hand to her mom when my comlink rings. I dig it out of my pocket to check the screen.

"Steela," Mina admonishes.

"I know, no comlinks at the table. But it's Saw," I explain and pick up. "Hey, you guys are late!"

The voice on the other end of the comlink isn't Saw's. _"Ma'am, my name is Officer Short. Are you the next of kin to Mr. Jaime Vashtor?"_

I'm about to just hang up on the guy until I remember just where I've heard "Jaime Vashtor" before – it's Saw's alias. "Yes, I'm his sister. Is something wrong?"

 _"Ma'am, I'm calling to inform you that Jaime and his friends have been involved in a speeder accident."_

"What's going on?" Sierra asks, apparently gauging from my face that something is horribly wrong.

"Speeder crash?" I repeat.

All activity at the table stops cold.

 _"Yes ma'am, they failed to yield at a red light and were broadsided by an oncoming vehicle. All passengers have been taken to Rampart General Medcenter. Can you give me contact details for their next of kin?"_

"They're all here with me; the guys were supposed to meet us for lunch. Are they okay?"

 _"They are all alive."_

 _Thank God._ I cover the speaker on my comlink with my hand. "The guys got in a speeder accident. They're taking them to Rampart Medcenter now."

"Rampart?" Sierra repeats. "Steela, Rampart is a public medcenter. As in, Imperial-run."

 _Great._ "Officer, I need you to change the ambulance's destination. Rampart General, um, violates our religious beliefs!"

 _"I'm sorry ma'am, but there's nothing I can do. The ambulances have already departed."_

"Okay, thank you for notifying me." I hang up. "We need to get to the medcenter; they can't deviate at this point." At the moment, two guys in particular are jockeying for my attention. Saw is an idiot on the road and Rex, well, who doesn't worry when their boyfriend gets into an accident? And then there's Tandin – he's not as young as he once was.

"Oh my force," Ahsoka frets, grabbing her headtails. "Oh my force, Oh my force."

Tav puts down his bantha burger. "Mommy? Are you okay?"

Ahsoka takes a second to collect herself in front of her children. "Yes, Tav. I'm just worried about Daddy. How about you eat your lunch, and when you're done you can put your plate in the sink and go back to playing with Mr. Tooka?" Tav nods and goes back to his lunch, and Ahsoka locks eyes with me.

"Steela, I'm sure Rex is okay. He's survived some rough landings before."

"I'm sure Lux is fine too." _But how do we know? It's not like the officer told me anything!_

Sierra snaps us out of our worrywart state with the last thing we need: more problems. "How are we going to get to the medcenter? We don't have a speeder!"

"There's a public transport which arrives at the entrance of the docks in five minutes," Mina says, her calm exterior masking what's doubtlessly a roiling sea of terror. "Ladies, we need to hurry."

"But what about the kids?"

Hero takes care of that problem in three seconds flat: she plops Molly into Katooni's arms, grabs Kiara's spoon and holds it out to her daughter.

"You're on duty," she orders. "Their bedtime is at seven, make macaroni and cheese for dinner, and I'll call you from the medcenter when I know more."

"Is Dad going to be okay?" Katooni asks, balancing her sister on one hip to take Kiara's spoon with the other.

"If I know one thing about your dad, it's that he has a hard head," Hero reassures. "All right ladies, we have five minutes to make the transport. Let's go!"

 **You all knew this story was coming. In fact, many of you wished me luck with it or even asked for it in all caps (You know who you are) and that made me very, very happy. I'm proud to present this for you!**

 **Rampart General Medcenter is a callout to the series "Emergency!". Great old show. Speaking of shows, "Signal 30" is the name of a film I had to watch for driver's education. (I do not recommend looking it up. It's the type of film which is meant to scare the bejeezus out of young drivers.)**

 **The guys may not be in as much trouble as the characters on** ** _Emergency_** **or the poor people who ended up in "Signal 30", but they're still in it deep. Please feel free to leave a review on your way out.**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	2. We Lie to Doctors

**CHAPTER TWO – WE LIE TO DOCTORS**

 **AHSOKA**

Of the five guys taken to the medcenter, three of them have wives or girlfriends.

Therefore, when we decide which one of us will stay with each man, three decisions are easy: I'm staying with Lux, Hero with Hutch, and Steela with Rex.

"Are you guys sure?" She asked, obviously terrified for Saw and Tandin.

"Of course," Mina says. "I'll tell the doctors Tandin is my husband. He's in good hands. And Sierra loves Saw too."

"It's fine, really," I chirp in a fake cheery voice. "Like Hero said, all the guys have hard heads!"

No one laughs. The public transport puffs up to its stop in front of the medcenter and we swarm to the front, waiting for the door to open.

"Did the officer say who was driving?" Hero asks Steela.

Steela shakes her head. "No, but if it was Saw I'm going to kill him."

Fair enough. If Saw wasn't enough of a road menace already, this should get the idea through that thick skull of his. "Enough about that. Does anyone know where the emergency room is?"

Sierra points. There, above a doorway in giant red letters, are the words EMERGENCY.

"Why is it all the way in the back of the medcenter?" Hero laments.

"They have to have somewhere to park the ambulances." I double my speed toward the emergency entrance. "Okay guys, we're running this one without Hutch. As far as you can tell, are all the aliases in order?"

"Yes," Sierra answers. "The cop called Saw by his, so that's good. The real problem is making sure they aren't identified in the medcenter itself."

"And that's a taller order than it sounds like; if they even tell the doctors their real birthdays they can trace it back to their files, and then we're done for."

"I dug out the emergency aliases when we walked out the door and I hope to Unifar you read them on the bus," Hero tells everyone, matching my pace. "Remember, we're all family. And one more thing – they won't let girlfriends or sisters edit medical records. So if anybody isn't already married to their guy … um, I now pronounce you husband and wife?"

I watch as the implications of that sink in for Sierra.

"No," she says.

"You have to," Mina tells her.

Sierra cringes, but swallows her objections. Instead, she settles for a shudder and a "This is so wrong."

If I had any capacity for sympathy at the moment, I could hardly blame her. Masquerading as your brother's wife isn't fun, and I speak from experience on a few undercover missions with Rex. But at the moment, all my thoughts are directed at one person: Lux Bonteri, my lovable oaf of a husband who's in deep trouble if I find out he was the one driving the speeder.

Mina leads the charge into the ER and spears up to the triage desk, completely ignoring some guy who's trying to convince the nurse his cough is a symptom of some horrible disease.

"Can I help you?" another nurse asks, apparently judging five harried women to be a bigger problem than Cough Guy.

"Speeder accident. Five men. Our husbands. Where?"

The nurse nods recognition. "Come with me. May I ask which of you is married to which man, so I know who to discuss with?"

"We're all family. We're sisters, and the men are our husbands," I blurt out. "Please nurse, are they okay?"

The nurse looks down at her charts to verify the information and the permissions, and then says. "They came in unconscious, but they're all awake now and they're stable."

 _They're going to live. Thank all that is holy._ "I'm Mr. Mancini's wife. How badly are they hurt?"

The nurse leads us to a line of patient cubicles. "Mr. Mancini is all right. He has some broken ribs from the impact, but in terms of serious injuries that seems to be it."

"What about Robert Barton?" Mina interjects, referring to Tandin.

"He has a few bumps and bruises, as well as whiplash, but no serious injuries. As for the others, Mr. Castleton has a broken collarbone and a concussion." She looks down at the pictures. "Tessa Castleton?"

Steela jockeys to the front. "That's me."

"All right. Next is Daxus Reed, who keeps muttering about the HoloNet connection."

(Three guesses about as to Daxus' identity).

"He has a minor concussion as well, and some nasty cuts from flying transparisteel, but that's nothing bacta won't fix."

Sierra pipes up. "What about my husband, Jaime Vashtor? I'm his wife, Cersei."

"Mr. Vashtor," the nurse sighs. "Well ma'am, it seems that he was the only one in the vehicle who wasn't wearing his seatbelt."

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Steela does it anyway, and Mina sighs. Of _course_ Saw wasn't wearing his seatbelt.

"His injuries are the most extensive. He rung his bell pretty hard when it hit the window, and he has a broken arm from hitting the dashboard. He's conscious, but we've decided that we need to keep him here for the next day or two to monitor the head injury. That goes for a few of them."

"But they're all going to be fine?"

"At this point, we only need to keep them for observation."

I can't take the waiting anymore; for all I know there could be Stormtroopers hiding behind those curtains, waiting to arrest us. "Can we see them now?"

"Of course. Your husband is first up," she pulls back a curtain revealing Lux on the bed, a blanket pulled up to his chin.

"Honey!" I cry, racing into the room. "Honey, are you alright?"

"I could be worse," Lux admits. "Even though it hurts to take a deep breath, it definitely could be worse."

"Remember to take those deep breaths, Mr. Mancini. Otherwise we'll have to worry about pneumonia, and you'll have an even longer stay in this resort," the nurse says and shuts the curtain, bringing the rest of our crew with her. "Mrs. Castleton, your husband is next."

Once we're alone Lux looks up to me with fear shining in his eyes. "Where are the kids?"

"Katooni's babysitting. What happened?"

"We were hit by a laundry van – Ahsoka, does the Empire know who we are?" he whispers.

"No, luckily they found your aliases. You're Mr. Mancini, and I'm your wife Ella. Okay?"

"Okay,"

"Who was driving?"

"Me," he sighs. "The doctors say I broke my ribs hitting the steering wheel."

 _It wasn't Saw? Shocking._ "You?"

"I looked away from the road to adjust the radio," he says miserably.

"Good," I lay him against the pillows and sit down on the edge of his bed, reaching up and combing my fingers through his hair. "Relax. You need your rest."

"Feels nice," Lux mumbles and closes his eyes.

 **SIERRA**

"Mr. Vashtor, your wife is here."

Saw looks up at the doorway and stares at me with a look that says _what?_

"Hi, Jaime," I say, trying to give him the information he'll need to keep up his end of the façade. "It's me, Cersei. Your wife."

Saw's eyes widen and he lays a heavy finger on his pain pump.

 _It wasn't even my idea,_ I think sourly as he drifts off into drug-induced la-la land.

"Guess he's not feeling too talkative," I tell the nurse. "Do you have any forms I need to fill out?"

The nurse hands me a chart and I fill it with lies. Well, mostly lies.

Name: Jaime Vashtor.

Birthdate: The date of Onderon's independence on the real year Saw was born.

And for the medical stuff – allergies, surgeries, medical conditions – I tell the truth.

"All right," she says. "We're going to take Jaime here upstairs to his room so we can clear this cubicle out for the next person. If you'll just follow me?"

…

"Why are you pretending to be my wife?" Saw asks when his pain medication wears off.

"They won't let a sister edit your medical records," I explain. "Calm down, it's not like we actually have to get married."

Saw _harrumphs_ and flops back in bed. "When do I get to go home?"

"Not for a while," Just then, his fluids bag runs out and a force-awful alarm pings through the air. "The nurse will be coming. Remember, _I'm your wife."_

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles as a nurse comes down the hall. I can only see the back of her head but I know she's Pantoran, wearing maroon scrubs that set off her blue skin. She turns around to walk into the room, and that's when I see her face and her name badge all at once.

JENN

 _Oh dear sweet Unifar, how many Jenns are there in this galaxy? More than one, right?_

Then I see the nurse's face and my hopes and dreams die.

It's Jenn, the former president of Phi Kappa Lambda.

I don't know whether to praise the Force or sink to my knees in defeat, but I'm going with the latter. When Jenn's sorority declared war on us she glued Saw's shoes to his feet and almost called the cops through some underhanded moves with a landline phone. I just have to pray she doesn't remember us.

My hopes are dashed when Jenn gives a look to Saw, then to me, and says "I remember you guys."

"Hi, Jenn." I gulp.

"I would ask how you're doing, but I think I already know the answer. I'm just going to fix your drips here," she walks over to Saw's IV, leans in close to both of us, and whispers. "What are you guys doing here? You don't like Imperials, that much is for sure. So what are you doing in an Imperial hospital?"

"I got creamed by a laundry van," Saw growls.

"Then why didn't you pick a private hospital? Because according to your chart, you were checked in by your … wife."

Her eyes lift from the chart to me. I try to swallow the bile from my stomach.

"You two are brother and sister."

"No we're not." I say in my most convincing voice. "Do we _look_ like brother and sister?"

Unfortunately, Jenn is not the gullible type. "Like hell you're not! You said it straight out at the sorority house. And I don't care if someone's adopted or you two are half-siblings, it's against the law in every system to marry your sibling! You're not married!" She grabs the chart. "This is fraud. I'm calling security."

"Jenn, wait!" I jump up and block her way to the phone to page security, kicking Saw's door shut on the way. "Don't call security, please! If you do, both of us are dead."

Jenn stops, raising one pink eyebrow. "And what's one reason for me to not call security?"

"We're on the run from the Empire," I say slowly. "We're just trying to survive, and they want us dead. We weren't going to stay here, but then he had his accident and now we're stuck."

"Roll up your sleeves," Saw orders.

"What?"

"Roll up your sleeves," he repeats, lifting his free wrist and pushing his hospital bracelet further up his arms. "I don't like it either, but it's the best proof we've got."

I swallow hard, pushing the sleeves of my sweater up past my elbows. I roll my arms over to show the insides to Jenn. Same as Saw's, the feathery scars have faded over time but they're still there.

"They're called Lichtenberg figures," Saw says. "And she has track marks, too. You're a nurse. You know what causes these marks, and lightning doesn't strike people's wrists."

Jenn nods.

"Please, don't send us back there." I swallow hard. "Both of us almost died, and if we go back I guarantee you they won't make that mistake again."

Jenn looks at my arms, then Saw's, then at the phone.

"My name is in no way connected to this," she says. "If you get caught, then I didn't have anything to do with you. You don't know who I am, you've never seen me before, and you never told me anything."

"I can live with that." Hopefully that never has to happen.

"And if you don't," she says before I can get my hopes up. "If you don't get caught, then I want to see something come out of this, if you get what I mean."

 _Yes Jenn, to my chagrin I get what you mean, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and weasel out of it._ "You have a job. Why would you want to risk your neck working for us?"

"I am a Pantoran working in an Imperial hospital," she snorts. "I'm not paying off those student loans anytime soon. And working with you nerfherders for a while is preferable to having debt collectors yakking off my ear until I die."

Well, I don't have a rebuttal for that. Our crew ran a scam on an unscrupulous Imperial debt collector, and that job made me want to pay cash for everything I ever buy. As much as I dislike Jenn, no one deserves that.

But you don't survive long in the con game by being a pushover.

"That decision isn't up to me. We'll have to conference with my sisters."

"Fine," she shrugs, "Let's talk to them. This is going to be great."

 **For those who don't remember, Jenn is the Pantoran leader of Phi Kappa Lambda, the sorority caught in a money laundering operation in the last story. When the rebels take down their lender, Abitha Frey, Phi Kappa Lambda strikes up an alliance with a fraternity to get revenge.**

 **Also, if anyone spots the _Game of Thrones_ reference you get an internet cookie. **

**Thank you to julyza (Oh dear. I hope you and the other driver weren't injured.) MusicKeeper, starwarshobbitfics, TrinityWrites, TessaFred, RoseRavenclaw, and Johnt12345 for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	3. Rex, Meet Morphine

**CHAPTER THREE – REX, MEET MORPHINE**

 **STEELA**

I am not happy when Sierra says we need to have an urgent meeting in the women's refresher. My bad mood gets worse when I see she's bringing company, and it _explodes_ once said company lifts her head and shoots me that cocky, I'm-so-awesome grin.

"No freaking way."

"I tried, but she remembered that there's no way Saw and I could be married." Sierra says sourly.

"How did you find us?" Hero demands, getting up in Jenn's business.

"I just work here," Jenn says, throwing up her hands. "Look, Sierra here already said I was in."

"My name isn't Sierra," Sierra desperately tries to cover.

"Sure, and rocks are alive."

"Why do you want to work with us?" I ask, eyebrow raised. "You hate us."

"With the searing heat of all the volcanoes on Mustafar," Jenn admits. "But as much as I do, I like not drowning in my student loans more. You think I make money?"

"You're the nurse. We're the ones who live on a ship," I point out.

"I'm a Pantoran and this is the Empire. They pay us half what they pay the human nurses," she says bitterly. "And we don't have health insurance, either. I mean, what's the logic in that? I work in a _hospital,_ and they won't give me health insurance!"

Okay, I have to admit that's ridiculous.

"I wanted to stay near my old friends from college, but nobody on Kuat would hire me so I had to move and so did Rani," Jenn continues. "We got an apartment and we can make the rent and the minimum payments on our loans. So here's the short version of why I'm working with you: I need the money."

Hero nods. Out of all of us, she was the brokest in her early years. And I haven't a doubt in my mind that she would work with con men if it meant helping to pay her bills. (Heck, I would work with _hitmen.)_

"And before you consider trying to cut me out, just remember I have proof that all the guys have committed fraud."

"Fine," Ahsoka relents. "You can work with us, as long as you follow all instructions, and no freelancing. I don't care if they offer you the Imperial Mint or you see a pot of credits at the end of a rainbow, we can't afford to have any liabilities where the guys are concerned."

"You really can't," Jenn says. "Good choice. You won't regret it."

I already do. "You're a nurse. What are the procedures regarding identification?"

"Your guys have one huge advantage; they're not John Does," Jenn says. "If that was the case the hospital would be actively investigating their identities. But since they came in with actual names and next of kin, then no investigation is pending unless the doctors need past medical records."

"I already took care of that, on that chart they gave me to fill out," Sierra says.

Mina shakes her head. "That's just the medical history. The records would be things like doctor's notes, lab reports, or radiology. And if they don't find those in the men's files, then they'll contact their physicians to obtain them. Which doctor's comm number is on the charts?"

"It'll go to a computer at Senator Organa's med bay," Hero explains. "The way Hutch explained it, the software is programmed to write over the actual medical records with the alias' information. So if they do that, we should be okay as long as we have the aliases programmed into the system."

"Are they?"

Hero looks to her feet. "Hutch does the guys' aliases and I do the girls'."

"Well can you check?" I demand. _If those aliases aren't in the system Hero will have to plug them in, and that means she'll have to go back to the ship to get at the computer, which means we'll be down yet another man._

"Hutch's computer should be in with his personal effects so he'll have the final information, but let me try with my comlink. Bear in mind I'm not the hacker …" about thirty seconds later, she looks back up. "My best guess? They're in. Hutch said he planned for eight electronic contingencies, and a medical emergency is always one of them."

"Still, we can't stay here forever," I worry. "No matter how good Hutch's contingencies are, this hospital is still hooked up to Imperial databases. If they run the guys' prints we have an hour to get out of here – tops."

Mina turns to Jenn. "Have they?"

"Nobody at my station said anything about inking them."

"We don't have to worry about that for now, but don't forget about it either," Ahsoka says. "We have to get the guys out of here as efficiently and quietly and possible, and the best way I can think to pull that off is going to be through a transfer to a private hospital."

Jenn snorts.

"Is something funny?" Ahsoka asks.

"Good luck with that," the Pantoran replies. "Transferring one patient is bad enough, but five? You're going to need three ambulances to pull that off, or have one make three trips. Your odds of blocking out an ambulance for that amount of time are about as good as winning the lottery. And plus, there's triage. Your guys are on the bottom of the ambulance priority list."

"Great! So that's not going to work," I cry in frustration. "What's the next best option, having Jenn run some hot records past the docs to get them to discharge the guys early?"

"We can't do that," Sierra says quickly. "I'm not sure about the other guys, but Saw needs to be in the hospital, with his equipment. He has a catheter in."

Mina nods. "She's right. John had to have a urinary catheter once after he was injured at Aargonaar – when the doctors removed it, he was not a happy man. I may be Superwoman, but I draw the line at catheters."

If Mina won't touch it with a ten-foot pole then I don't want to either. But that just creates more problems. "If we can't get them transferred, and we can't get them discharged early, and we can't just let this run its course, then what are we supposed to do?"

There's silence for a moment and all eyes go to Ahsoka. She's the former Jedi, and even though Mina holds the absolute authority on the ship, on the job even she listens to Lux and Ahsoka.

"We have to steal the hospital."

Jenn chokes. "Steal the hospital?"

"Ahsoka, are you nuts?" Hero asks. "We're operating with half a crew. We can't do this!"

"Why not? We're con artists too."

"Steal the hospital?" Jenn repeats.

"Yeah, but right now we're con artists who are down two shills, a hitter, a hacker, and a mastermind!" I cry.

"So what? We can do this."

"Ahsoka, this isn't a con. This is a heist," Sierra says. "Steela is the only one here who works with heists. The rest of us are shills, a roper, and a grifter."

 _"Steal the hospital?"_ Jenn bleats.

Mina quickly crosses the room and takes Jenn by the arm. "Breathe deep and slow, dear. Don't hyperventilate."

Ahsoka gives Sierra a withering look.

"We are not just two shills, a grifter, and a roper. Mina raised two children, adopted four more, and got me when I married Lux, and she still managed to be the scariest Senator in Parliament! Hero fought for the rebellion. Steela led the rebellion. You helped tear down the Lazarus Project. And me?" she draws herself to her full height and puffs out her chest. "I was a Jedi."

I look over my shoulder to see if Jenn heard that. She isn't listening; instead she's blissfully distracted by Mina.

"If you say that a Jedi, two rebels, a grifter, and Senator BonScary can't steal a hospital, then I say you're wrong!" Ahsoka continues. "We've watched the guys do their jobs before, and sometimes we've done them in their places. And so help me Unifar, we're going to do it again."

"And exactly how are we going to accomplish that?" I ask with my arms crossed.

"Hero, you're the hacker," Ahsoka says gleefully. "Sierra, you're still the grifter but we're going to throw in some mastermind duties -."

"Please tell me you did not just give Sierra authority," Hero says.

I stifle a laugh. "She said it, not me!"

Sierra slugs first Hero, then me. It barely hurts.

Ahsoka continues. "And your reactions are precisely why I'm taking the other half of mastermind duty, as well as half the hitter duty. Steela, you have the other half. And Mina, if you'll pick up the slack in the shill department?"

"Of course," Mina redirects her attention to Jenn. "Are you alright now?"

"Are you guys thieves?" Jenn asks.

I pause and weigh the possible responses. Yes. No. Sort of.

But surprising to no one, Mina comes up with the words first. "We're seekers of justice, Jenn, and we use whatever means we can to find it."

To her eternal credit, Jenn shrugs. "As long as I get paid."

…

When I was called in for the emergency refresher meeting, Rex was just starting to stir after his head injury and the cocktail of drugs. An altered state of consciousness is never a good thing, so I go back to his room while Ahsoka and Sierra work out the plans.

Rex reclines in his bed, popping his lips.

"Rex?"

"I feel fuzzy."

Uh-oh, that doesn't sound great. "It's just from the medicine. Do you remember where we are?"

Rex moans and arches his back, temporarily forgetting about his broken collarbone. "Ow! Oh, mother. It's fuzzy and it hurts."

"Stay still," I implore, picking up his water cup and holding out the straw. "I don't want you to get hurt worse. Just stay still, and drink some water."

Instead of taking the straw, Rex gives me a dubious look. "Are you a nurse?"

"No. Drink the water,"

"You're the prettiest civvie I've ever seen."

Blood rushes to my cheeks. "Thank you,"

"What's your name?"

It dawns on me: because of the pain medication, Rex doesn't remember who I am.

"My name is Steela. I'm your girlfriend."

"You're _my_ girlfriend?"

"Yes, I am."

He blinks a few times, then zeroes in on my face. "Did Fives and Jesse send you to joke with me?"

"No, Rex. Drink your water."

But Rex has far more important things to concern himself with than water. "This isn't a joke? You're really my girlfriend?"

"It's not a joke," I sit on the edge of his bed, a smile on my face. "I wouldn't joke about being your girlfriend. But remember, if the doctors come in you need to tell them I'm your wife."

His face lights up with an enormous, pure smile. "Holy force, I'm the luckiest guy alive!"

"I am too, Rexster. Now will you drink your water?"

Rex takes a sip probably just to appease me. "How long have we been together?"

"A long time. Over a year now."

"Wait until the guys hear about this!" He raves. "I have a girlfriend. Have we kissed?"

"We've kissed a few times."

"Are we going to get married?"

"Someday," I agree, cracking a smile. Rex is usually so serious; his childlike enthusiasm is surprisingly sweet.

"Someday," he repeats, and then says "Will you marry me?"

 _List of places, to date, I've thought Rex was proposing or he has proposed to me._

 _The refresher_

 _My birthday party_

 _At a bar after waaay too much juma.  
_

 _The hospital, while on pain medication._

"That's the morphine talking," I caress his brow with the back of my hand. "We agreed we weren't ready to get married right now. But if you drink your water, I'll be just as happy."

Rex looks sorely disappointed. "All right. But as soon as I get out of here, I'm getting you a ring."

 **Somebody better block the wedding and Hallmark channels on Rex's hospital TV. The pain meds are really doing a number on his head. Speaking of the Stee-Rex ship, MusicKeeper showed me a lovely drawing of Captain Rex on a T. Rex. As far as I'm concerned, it's the ship mascot.**

 **Thank you to julyza, Starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, RoseRavenclaw, Johnt12345, and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	4. Ahsoka Cons Her Own Team

**CHAPTER FOUR - AHSOKA CONS HER OWN TEAM  
**

 **SIERRA**

"Isn't that sweet?" I ask Ahsoka, having heard Steela and Rex's conversation through the comm. "He fell in love with her all over again."

"My teeth hurt," she admits and goes back to her datapad.

"Mine don't," Jenn says cheerily, having no idea what Ahsoka and I were talking about since she doesn't have an earbud. "My teeth want to test gold credit chips."

"Patience," Ahsoka admonishes. "You'll get what's coming to you, but first we actually have to do the job to get your credits. And by the way, what did I say about not arousing suspicion?"

"I'm not doing anything suspicious."

"That means sticking to your routine. Are you not supposed to be working?"

Jenn snorts. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Then we don't want your coworkers to miss you," Ahsoka says frostily. "Go back to work and we'll send someone when we need you."

Jenn gives us a hard side-eye. "Are you trying to sideline me?"

"No, we're trying not to tank the job before it even starts," I shoot back.

She considers for a second, then hops to her feet.

"Just in case you're thinking of something you shouldn't, remember that I can go to the cops any time with proof of fraud," she says. "And also, remember just where your guys' catheters are placed."

My jaw drops. "You wouldn't."

"I put them in. Don't think I can't take them out," she says and saunters out the door as if she'd simply been telling us about the weather.

"There's something wrong with her, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka snorts. "You two would be like two peas in a pod!"

"I'm not like _that!"_ Okay, sometimes I do stupid stuff and Lux has wondered out loud whether I'm cross-wired, but as much as someone can vouch for their own mental health, I vouch. "Jenn is, like, sadistic."

"Jenn would make a good grifter," Ahsoka observes. "She has a lot of the right traits: intelligence, creativity, and ruthlessness, and she has quite the set of social skills to be president of a sorority."

"None of the skills that would make a mark like her."

"I'd beg to differ. You just dislike her because every time we've been around her she's presented an unlikable persona. I'd bet my boots that she could wrap an Inquisitor around her finger if she tried hard enough. Come on Sierra, I know you have a few sabaac cards up your sleeve that your Mom doesn't even know about."

True. No one knows about my magic dress, the one Mom flat-out refused I buy because "I don't care what your job is, child, no daughter of mine is walking around like that!" When she went to the other end of the store to check out shoes with Hero, I took the dress to the register and then hid it in the speeder.

Why do I call it the magic dress? When paired with high heels, the effect it has on marks is incredible. Incredible, I tell you. It practically does my job for me.

"Still, I don't do half the stuff she does," I say as my final defense and quickly change the subject before Ahsoka can come up with anything else. "So, getting the guys out. What are we going to do?"

"First, we're bulletproofing the aliases. Second, the only way I can think to speed up recovery to get the guys discharged is by stealing some carapace knitters."

I wince. "Carapace knitter?"

Carapace knitters are basically a calcium glue that will mend broken bones, but it was designed for exoskeletons. For a human or any other being with an endoskeleton to use it, the glue needs to be injected directly into the break. And morphine might as well be cough syrup for as much it does to dull the pain. I would know. "Ahsoka, you weren't there when Senator Organa's med team gave me the carapace knitter. It took Mom, Senator Organa, _and_ two of his personal guards to hold me down and I screamed so loud I woke Leia from her nap."

"I know it's painful -."

"Senator Organa says Leia sleeps through ion storms."

"And you know from experience how easy it is to wake up sleeping babies. We can't buy carapace knitters because they're expensive, but we can steal them."

"And once we have them, how do you plan on using them? Are we going to inject them ourselves?"

"No, we'll get the nurses to do that. Now that we've got one in our cabal, it'll be even easier. Jenn'll do anything for the right price."

I blink. "And you expect her to do it right?"

Ahsoka sighs. "She's still a nurse, Sierra, even if she's sometimes a pain. And if you're worried about the guys having any … discomfort, then we can knock them out."

Wrong. "Mom asked Senator Organa to knock me out when they did it, and he said no. Apparently it's unsafe to do it on an unconscious patient. I screamed so loud they probably could hear me in the Imperial Palace, and they did it on my leg. Lux will have to get the shots in his _ribs."_

Ahsoka's lekku stripes fade to an almost powder blue, then quickly return to their normal color. She knows morphine is no defense against a carapace knitter.

"I don't like it any more than you do, but it beats getting caught by the Empire." I can't argue with that logic. No one can.

"Okay, so we're stealing carapace knitters. Does this hospital stock them?"

"They're common enough that bounty hunters can get their hands on them easy enough, so we have to hope. And if they do, they'll be stored with the other medical supplies."

"I'll send Steela to crack the drug box."

"That's the first step. The question is which drug box. She'll only have one shot before someone notices and they double security on everything, and she needs to do it at a separate facility.

"Great. Which one?"

Ahsoka makes a clucking noise with her tongue. "Sierra, you should know which one. What type of medical office would regularly stock carapace knitters, and generally doesn't have the same level of security as a hospital?"

I bite the inside of my cheek. The radiology department? Usually emergency rooms set broken bones, and they aren't exactly "medical offices". The only other department I can think of that involves bones is -

"The dentist," I realize. "They use carapace knitters to fix cavities."

"Exactly. And from my comlink search, there's a dentist in the medical building on the same grounds."

 _Shoot, Ahsoka. You should be the full backup mastermind, instead of just half._ "I'll give Steela the address. Knowing her, she'll be back in twenty minutes."

…

 _"You want how many carapace knitters?"_

"Uh, four?"

 _"And you want me to get them from the dentist?"_

"That's what I said."

 _"The dentist, Sierra? The freaking dentist?"_

The upside of working with your family: you can always trust one another. They'll always be there for you, and the trust and camaraderie that comes with the best crews is already there.

The downside of working with your family: Professionalism? What professionalism?

"It was Ahsoka's idea, not mine. Don't tell me you can't take four carapace knitters from a drug box in a dentist's office with minimal security."

She snorts. _"I'll be back soon with them, but this is by far the weirdest thing I've ever stolen."_

"Welcome to the club. This job is all sorts of weird for everyone."

Steela's comm goes mute and I turn back to Ahsoka. "Okay, what are you pulling here?"

"Pulling?" she asks, trying to sound oblivious.

"You and Steela were military leaders. You two have the most experience and you both won major victories with your strategic planning. If anyone should be co-mastermind with you, it's her and I should be on shill duty."

I would be an utterly useless hitter, but Hero could fill in for me on that end. Grifter and shill – it's happened before, and it's worked.

Ahsoka pauses, trying to gather the right words.

"You caught on."

"You think I wouldn't?"

"I knew you would. But here's the question for you. Did you know I was doing something because you strategized, or because you grifted me?"

Cardinal rule of criminals everyone: Don't con your own team. The fact that Ahsoka did just that infuriates me, but losing it won't do me any good and kriff it, she can use the Force to tell if I'm lying.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out a strategy like that."

"True," she agrees. "And that's a good thing. Lux and I have always been prompting you for it."

"Do you mean to tell me Lux has been _conning_ me?" That's it. I can take this coming from Ahsoka, as she's a Jedi, but Lux? Lux is my brother. We're not supposed to keep things from each other. And if I hear that Saw or Steela was in on it, stars help them. "Why would you be prompting me for anything? Am I not good enough?"

"Sierra, have you thought about when the war ends?"

Well sure I have. I imagine. When the war ends we're probably going to find out either through Senator Organa or because Hutch was trolling the HoloNet. There will be cheering, probably a cork popped off a bottle of champagne, and a trip back to Onderon to help Talia finish with her group of rebels, and for Tandin to sit on his rightful throne one last time.

Ahsoka reads my mind. "Not the celebration, Sierra. I mean after the Empire falls."

Oh.

"Lux and I will retire," she says. "We're going to give Tav and Kiara a normal life. Get a house, send them to school, volunteer and live off our old scores. We're going to go straight. It may not be the most exciting life, but we've had enough excitement to last a lifetime. Tandin, Saw, and Steela will get their old jobs back and rule Onderon. Hutch and Hero want to use their scores to open a restaurant. Mina says she wants to spend her retirement spoiling her grandbabies. Rex will probably propose to Steela and they'll have a giant wedding and adopt a litter of kids."

I want to say something. Really, I do. But the realization that after the war, my family will go legitimate blindsides me.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll work with Hero and Hutch's restaurant," I spit out.

Ahsoka isn't buying it. "You mean you'll use their restaurant as a front for grift?"

"Are you using the force? Is that it?" I demand.

"Sierra, you've been grifting since you were thirteen years old," she says. "You took a break, sure, but it's all you really know."

It's true. Everything I said to Atai and to Kira in the Zygerrian throne room was true, even if it was during a massive grift. The Empire rose when I was fifteen years old, before I could finish my basic education. I have no skills. House Bonteri is little more than a memory with no land, no holdings, and no standing with the king. No one will want to marry an intergalactic criminal. I know nothing about law or politics to inherit my family's old senate position, which has passed to another family anyway. All I know how to do is manipulate, run games, and steal.

But it's not like I'm going to tell that to Ahsoka. "I can go into marketing. Do night school or something, and work for a corporation. I play enough corporate characters, and marketing is basically grifting. Or I can work as an insurance investigator. They run games on people all the time."

"True enough," she nods. "You would be good at it. Though I'm still a little concerned about you in a corporation."

"What even is this conversation about?" I jab a finger at her. "I started asking with why you were conning me, and now you've snowballed it into what I'm going to do after the war."

Ahsoka, force damn her, is completely unruffled by my outburst. "Lux and I want to make sure that when the war ends, you'll know how to run your own crew."

I stop short.

"Run my own crew?"

"You're good enough at it."

 _My own crew._

It's a massive responsibility but it's definitely on my list of dreams which includes stealing the Amulet of Galia, watching Tor slowly lowered into a vat of boiling oil, and having lunch with Grand Admiral Thrawn.

"So this job -?"

"It's a trial run," Ahsoka admits. "Since the guys hang in the balance it's half a trial run, but we want to see what you can do. Think of it as an audition."

I force myself to keep my excitement at bay. No more uncertain future, instead a crew of my own.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of it myself.

 **C'mon. What other kind of future could Sierra possibly have? She's a thief to the bone.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, TessaFred, TrinityWrites, and McAwsome for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	5. The Holoscanner Chronicles

**CHAPTER FIVE – THE HOLOSCANNER CHRONICLES**

 **MINA**

I sit in the chair in Tandin's room, watching him sip at a cup of contrast dye.

"Doesn't taste very good, does it?"

He shrugs. "I see why Steela wasn't happy when I told her she had to drink it. I have to say, it's not so bad cold."

"Don't let it warm up," I warn. "I'll bet she would give you the same advice. She's a veteran of the holoscanner, isn't she?"

"Radiology wasn't the highlight of her days, but she didn't hate it either. And yes, she did go a number of times." He takes another sip of contrast dye. "At least it doesn't hurt."

It must have been one of the few things that _didn't_ hurt in the Lazarus Project, considering Steela's reaction to being treated properly with John and me. "That it does not. How are you feeling?"

"Well enough," he shrugs. "My neck is stiff, but that's to be expected with whiplash."

"We'll find out if there's anything else to worry about once they've done the scan." I look around for something else to occupy his mind. "Would you like to watch holovision?"

Tandin shakes his head. "No thank you, I don't need any more distractions. How is Saw?"

 _How is Saw?_ "He's on the mend."

That's true, physically at least. He's probably twitching knowing that Jenn is onto our crew like purple on jogans. And to be honest, I am too. Discounting John's death and Sierra's capture, the sorority war was the closest our crew has ever come to being completely exposed and Jenn was at the head of it. She's slipperier than an eel and, though I would never say this out loud, probably smarter than any one of us. Myself included.

"Enough about right now," I burst out, falling back on one of my old tricks. "Why don't you tell me a good memory of yours? We both need to hear something happy."

Tandin considers for a moment. "All right," he says. "This is the story of Steela learning to walk again in the Lazarus Project, and how I got to be there for her first steps."

…

I think I know who Tandin's favorite child is.

"I told her to put her arms around me so she wouldn't fall, and I probably held more of her weight than she did. It was good I did because she walked like her legs were wooden. It hurt, I could tell."

"She's a stubborn one; I'm surprised she let you hold her."

His smile fades "She didn't have a choice. She held onto me so tight her fingers left red marks.

"Still," he says, "We were halfway out of her room, and her legs collapsed. I said that was enough for the day and tried to pick her up, but she said no and kept on going." He shakes his head. "I didn't know what to do with that girl…"

"You did the right thing," I reassure. Not only can I understand that story, I can top it. May you never arrive home to find both your husband's speeder and your son – who does not have a driver's license – gone, and have said son pull into the driveway behind the wheel of the speeder he is not allowed to drive ten minutes later. And may you never sprint across the garden shouting "DON'T EAT THE FLOWERS!" to your four-year-old daughter, who when you arrive looks up with rose petals staining her baby teeth and says "Yes, Mommy?"

And force willing, may no parent ever experience the horror that was Count Dooku's hologram at the police station, solemnly informing John and I that the Republic had murdered our children.

…

 _"My deepest sympathies, Mr. and Mrs. Bonteri," Dooku said before flickering out._

 _John and I stared mutely at the holodisk where he once was, the words churning in our heads._

 _"There must be some kind of mistake," I said. "I need to call the children; they get nervous when I miss an appointment."_

 _"Mrs. Bonteri," one of the officers said. "Your children are dead."_

 _John wrung his cap in his fingers, his knuckles white. I clenched the arms of my chair._

 _"Is there someone I can call?" the officer asked._

 _"I'd like to go home now," John blurted out before he collapsed to the floor sobbing._

….

"Parenting is an adventure, Tandin, and half the time I don't have any idea what I'm doing either. But anyway, you said she kept walking? Sounds like Steela to me."

"You should have seen the look she gave Dendup when he saw us in the hallway. He thought she would never walk again and I'm convinced the only reason she did was to prove him wrong."

That's definitely something Steela would do.

"We're working to get you all out of here as soon as possible," I tell him. "Once the doctors get the results of your scan back, we can finalize our plans. We've already sent Steela out to get carapace knitters; unless you have internal injuries then they'll release you before they release the other men."

Tandin sighs. "Whatever works the quickest. I don't like that this is an Imperial hospital; I keep looking over my shoulder half-expecting Stormtroopers."

 _You're not the only one._ "As far as we can tell all aliases are secure, so there's nothing to worry about."

If that isn't a blatant lie, I don't know what is. We most certainly have something to worry about, and it's spelled J-E-N-N.

Tandin reclines back in bed, the contrast solution emptied. "Mina, can you tell Steela and Saw that I'm quite alright? I don't want them worrying about me."

I smile at him the same way the nurses smiled at John when we took our daughter to the emergency room, the gentle smile to a parent worrying about their child.

"Of course, Tandin. I'll let them both know not to worry."

…..

"Tandin wants me not to worry?" Steela repeats when she's back in the hospital. "Well, you can tell him that I'm not – albeit that it was because I had bigger things to worry about, but don't tell him that. Can you make it sound better than that?"

"I'll tell him you trust in him completely."

"Thanks, Mina."

"Still," Hero says. "It is a sweet gesture. He loves you and Saw so much."

Steela nods wistfully. "Yeah, I know."

Ahsoka clears her throat, snapping us away from the conversation. "We'll worry even less once we have them out of here. Steela did you get the carapace knitters?"

Steela nods. "Jenn already put them in, so the guys are on the mend. I don't think the dentist even noticed they were gone. At least, we'd better _hope_ he doesn't notice they were gone."

"I'm confused. Why don't you want the dentist to know they were gone?" Jenn asks.

Sierra speaks up before I can. "Those carapace knitters?"

"Yeah."

"Not super legal."

Jenn cringes. "I _knew_ it. I just knew 'let's go steal a hospital' meant something bad. You're telling me you stole Imperial medical supplies?"

Steela shrugs. "Technically, they were dental supplies."

"Oh my God." Jenn rubs her eyes. "When we're done here, I want double payment. No, kriff that. Triple."

"Why do you deserve triple payment?" Ahsoka demands.

Jenn opens her mouth to answer but Sierra cuts her off. "Okay, we have the carapace knitters. What else do we have to do to get the guys discharged? Jenn?"

"Well I put 'privately sourced carapace knitter' down on the charts, so they won't splint the bones," Jenn says. "As soon as the paper gets through backlog and their scans come out clear, then they should be free to go."

"Will their scans be clear?"

"Probably not."

"Great!" Hero throws up her hands. "So we have to steal radiology. How are we going to do that?"

"We don't have to steal radiology itself," I say. "Just the scans. Hero, is there a way for you to intercept and alter them?"

She bleaches. "I'm pretty sure Hutch can't even do that."

"Okay, so what if we swap their scans for somebody else's?" Steela suggests.

Sierra shakes her head. "We could hurt someone doing that, and none of us want that on our consciences. Unless we don't use an actual patient…"

I look at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Hero and Steela are really going to hate it, Mom."

 **AHSOKA**

"This is never going to work," Hero grumbles as I push her wheelchair into the radiology room.

"It'll work fine," I adjust the cap on her head to hide her hair, praying she looks enough like Hutch that it'll slide. "All we have to do is roll you into the scanner, have them see your perfectly fine scan, and then roll you out. That's all it takes."

"It better. How long do you think it's going to take for them to realize I'm not Hutch? I do not look like him."

That's true. Hero definitely has curves in places Hutch … doesn't.

"It's only for a second and you're in the baggiest hospital gown we could find. You'll be fine Hero, honest."

"If 'you'll be fine' isn't already on our list of famous last words, we need to put it on," Hero gripes.

True, the plan has flaws, but right now it's the best Sierra or I can come up with. Still, when in doubt deflect the blame. "This is Sierra's genius plan, not mine."

"It better work or I'm nailing you to the wall for letting her make the plan."

Oops. Sometimes blame-deflecting gets deflected right back on you.

"Okay. It's not a big deal, we'll just get the scans and no one will know the difference."

"Fine," she crosses her arms over her chest to further hide her figure. "Just hope to the force the doctors believe you when you say you're a nurse."

"I've convinced people of crazier things, like being a Togrutan -." I stop short.

Hero cranes her head around to face me. "A Togrutan what?"

I don't answer. My attention has been swallowed by the people I see in the waiting room chairs.

Hero sees them too.

"I. Hate. My. Life." she groans.

I backpedal with the wheelchair and make a beeline for Lux and Hutch's room. "Guys, abort mission. We have a major problem on our hands."

 _"What kind of a major problem?"_ Sierra asks, her voice dripping with dread.

I shoot another desperate look over my shoulder.

"Black Sun, Sierra. A problem like Black Sun."

…..

 _"Black Sun?"_ Lux squawks when I relay the story in front of him, Hutch, and the rest of our active crew.

"This is a public hospital. They could just be here for food poisoning," Jenn says weakly.

"Black Sun drinks spoiled blue milk and comes to the same hospital on the same day as us? And they set up shop right outside the radiology room we're supposed to be entering? That's a little too convenient" I say dryly.

"Do you think they want to kill us?" Mina frets.

Jenn butts in. "Why would they want to kill us? You're on the run from the Empire, not Black Sun."

"She's right. We never did anything to those guys," Sierra says. "That's our policy. We only go after the Empire; we don't burn the Hutts, we don't burn the Pikes, and we don't burn Black Sun."

"Could we have done it by accident?" Steela suggests. "Like what we did with Phi Kappa Lambda when we took down Frey. What if one of our marks was dabbling with Black Sun?"

"Frey wasn't," I count off the marks on my fingers. "Atai might, but wouldn't we see repercussions sooner than this? I'm willing to bet good money that Tarkin isn't, or that guy who fired the miners. He bought the Togrutan Prisoner scam hook, line, and sinker. We only take Imperial credits from their schemes and their sour deals. So what could we possibly have done to make Black Sun mad?

"Um, actually…"

Hutch squirms in his seat, his face pink. Slowly, all of us turn around to form a semicircle around his bed.

"Hutch," Hero demands. "What in the name of the force did you do?"

 **A/N: Hero asked the question of the day, didn't she? With the level of messing up that the con men sometimes seem prone to, it shouldn't be a surprise that Hutch has something to do with this.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, StarwarsRulz, McAwsome, and julyza for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	6. Drops of Blood

**CHAPTER SIX - DROPS OF BLOOD  
**

 **STEELA**

"Hutch, what in the name of the force did you do?"

"It really isn't a big deal," Hutch defends himself. "I thought we could make a few more credits on this job, so I did what I thought was best and …"

"And?" Mina prompts

Hutch's next sentence comes out as if it's all one word. "I stole the fire rubies."

Hero's mouth falls open. "You did _what?"_

Jenn doesn't waste time on things like questions. Instead she runs over to the chair on Hutch's side of the room and scoops up a plastic bag labeled PATIENT'S BELONGINGS. Sierra grabs it out of her hands and rifles through it one-handed, eventually coming up with a palm-sized black pouch.

She unzips the top and her eyes go wide.

"On a scale of one to the lottery, how much is it?" I ask.

"T-the lottery and a half."

Jenn whines and reaches out for the pouch but Sierra yanks it out of her reach.

"Give it here," I hold out my hand for the pouch and Sierra hands it over. I'm the valuables expert in this crew and she knows it. But once I have the fire rubies in my hands, I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I lift one crystal up to the light, my eyes full of it.

"What's the verdict?" Ahsoka asks.

I swallow hard. "They're real. I would estimate them at about two carats each, and they're almost flawless."

"How much are they worth? Your best estimate."

Each one of these rubies is worth a small fortune all by itself. I do some mental math. With an entire pouch with an estimated 100 crystals - well, forget the lottery. The last time I saw a number this long, it was on an expense report for the Onderonian treasury.

"Lots," I say, not wanting to say the actual number in front of Jenn. "And there's more. When jewelers cut fire rubies, they put a tiny little serial number on each gemstone so they can track it. I'm looking, and these stones don't have serial numbers. And there's no evidence to suggest someone just scratched it off."

"What are you saying, that they haven't been marked yet?" Sierra asks.

"No. I'm saying that whoever has them has no intention of marking them. Which more often than not, means -."

"Blood rubies."

"Ten points to Sierra."

"Do I get twenty points if I guess that they maybe weren't the mark's? That just maybe, they belong to Black Sun?" Hero guesses.

"Refresh my memory here; Black Sun is a criminal organization?" Jenn asks, and before waiting for an answer she launches into "They are! So why would the Empire work with a crime organization if they won't even pay for my health insurance? The Emperor's a lot of things but he's not a complete moron. He knows just how far Black Sun's reach goes."

"The Empire didn't steal these from Black Sun. Our last target did personally." Ahsoka replies.

Hutch has an epiphany. "I stole stolen fire rubies."

"These aren't just stolen rubies; they're blood rubies," I clarify. "Black Sun was using them to pay for something, and considering their reputation I'm going to guess it isn't for starting an orphanage. If anything, it'll increase demand for orphanages."

"And I don't even want to think about what happened to the the rubies' former owners or the people that mined them," Lux winces from a sudden pinch of pain. "I've heard stories about illegal fire ruby mines."

"Enough about the stones. How did Black Sun track them here?" Ahsoka asks. "Steela, is there a homing beacon in the bag?"

I check. "No, I don't think so."

"They must have followed us here," Lux says. "They must have tracked the bag back to Hutch and followed our speeder, and then the ambulances after the crash."

Hero glares at her husband. "How did you get the rubies, St. James?"

Hutch shifts in his seat. "Said I was IT … might have stuck my hand in a briefcase while I was looking at the cables."

Hero facepalms. I resist the urge to do the same. "How you walked out of that building alive is mind-boggling."

"What gives?"

This time I can't reign it in. "They saw it on the security cameras. Worst lift ever!"

"Okay, everyone shut up!" Sierra orders. "We have to shake Black Sun, and if we're going to swing that in an Imperial hospital we're going to have to get creative."

"Can we just hang out here and run the same scam, just watching out for Black Sun this time?" Hutch asks.

Ahsoka shakes her head. "They call them blood rubies for a reason."

She doesn't even mention simply giving them back. That's not an option. Black Sun would happily take their rubies back – and then give us a blaster bolt for our troubles.

"Scratch radiology," she says. "Jenn, tell the doctors we're checking out against medical advice. We need to direct all our attention to Black Sun if we even have half a chance of dancing out of here alive."

"What is possibly going to influence Black Sun into leaving a bunch of idiots who stole their fire rubies alone?" Jenn demands.

"We have to throw their suspicions somewhere else," Sierra announces. "If you can't grift 'em, get 'em out of the way."

"Classic grift," I cross my arms. "It's probably the safest bet we have. But where are we going to deflect Black Sun so no one will get hurt?"

Jenn clears her throat.

"I happen to have an idea."

 **SIERRA**

Jenn and I lurk behind caf mugs in the hospital's cafeteria, eyeballing a dark-skinned woman in a gray suit.

"Are you sure you don't want to just egg her house?" I ask. "That can be arranged."

Jenn shakes her head. "No way. That's the hospital's vice president; she's the one who halved my pay and discontinued my health insurance. If I have half a chance to sic Black Sun on her, I'm gonna do it."

I shrug. "Alright then, let's go. Just follow my lead."

Jenn snorts and gets to her feet. "I don't _need_ your lead. I have ears that work just as well as yours."

Ignoring the last comment I meander over to the bagel display, pretending to examine the pastries through the glass while I stop right next to the VP's table.

"Can you believe the nerve of those guys?" I ask Jenn.

"We'll have to glue the damn cabinets shut," Jenn grumbles. "I swear to the maker, they're getting even more creative. We never would have noticed the files were copied if they hadn't run down all the toner in the machine making flimsi copies."

Where she's going with this I don't know, but she knows the hospital better than I. "Probably the only time that stupid thing has come in handy."

"Amen. Did you hear how they're planning to protect the rest of the records?"

 _Play along with your confederate, Sierra_. "Not yet."

"They've got the Empire involved in this, if you can believe it. They're going to send a HoloMail explaining everything soon." She takes a bite from a cinnamon bagel.

"More work for us," I grumble, grab a random bagel from the case and split it open to put on cream cheese. "When did they say we can expect it?"

"Ah, ten minutes. Long enough for a bagel break." With that she digs out her comlink and we walk back to the table.

"How is that supposed to do anything?" I ask once we're out of earshot.

"Hospital procedure," she says. "If they think there's been a privacy breach, then Black Sun doesn't stand a chance."

"She's expecting a HoloMail."

"So give her one," Jenn rolls her eyes and points to my comlink. "Yours sends HoloMail, doesn't it?"

Yes, it does. I activate the comlink and pull up the dummy address Hutch installed on all our devices. "What do you want in the subject line?"

"Warning: Security breach," she takes another bite of her bagel. "In the body, write that thugs which the hospital has reason to believe are from a known crime syndicate broke into one of the file cabinets and made copies of six patients' charts. Use these names," she rattles off a series of names and birth dates.

"Jenn, who are those people?"

"Patients who were drunk and hit on me. Anyway, keep going. For the next part tell her that the authorities need her to copy the complete records and send them to the following number for evidence." She gives me the number. "Good. Now mark it emergent and sign it with the name of the hospital's president."

I do. "Before we do this, I want an explanation as to exactly what you plan to accomplish with this. How, exactly, is a privacy breach going to affect Black Sun?"

"This isn't just some hospital policy; it's Imperial law," she informs me, swallowing the last of her bagel. "And it's a hardcore law, too. If Black Sun so much hears "privacy breach" and they have any brains whatsoever, they'll make themselves scarce. Do you have any idea how many offenses I could nail them to the wall for if they actually did this?"

…

If you weren't looking for it you wouldn't see the difference.

Nurses buzz around, whispering quietly about patient treatment plans, about patients themselves, and about a privacy breach.

Staff looks over their shoulders twice as much. The guy who helps us move Rex into the other bed in Saw's room, and the woman who brings him a cup of Jell-O look nervous as can be around the charts.

And Jenn's boss, the vice president of the hospital, walking down the hallway with tears streaming down her cheeks and a box filled with her personal items in her hands.

"Jenn, why is she getting fired?" I demand.

Steela's head snaps over from where she's trying to convince a drugged-out Rex to eat his Jell-O. "What?"

"Privacy breach," Jenn shrugs. "I'm not surprised. She sent multiple pieces of protected health information to the fax machine at the public library."

"You mean she sent them to the fax number that you gave her?"

"Actually, it's the one you gave her."

The pieces snap into place with a shattering realization: I've just been conned. Jenn ran a game on me for a game just like I run games on my marks.

Steela gives voice to my thoughts. "Do you mean to tell me that you manipulated us to get revenge on your old boss?"

She shrugs. "No. I did what you asked; Black Sun's priorities are elsewhere. I just sought some alternative compensation."

Holy gods of Unifras, I expected a lot of things from Jenn but definitely not this. "If you've done anything, you've just made it worse!"

"I didn't do anything. You did." She grabs the chart and thumbs through it.

My head races with what needs to be done, and Rex's medication-induced complaints that he wants a different color Jell-O aren't helping.

Luckily for me, I'm not _the_ only person in the room. Steela ignores Rex for a second and speaks up. "We can't undo this, but we'll have to clean it up as best we can. I need you to run sentry duty for my stepfather."

Tandin's probably in the best shape to wrangle Jenn, and Mom's in his room to boot. Yet Jenn still raises her brow. "Are you trying to sideline me?"

"Why would we give you sentry duty if we were?" I lie.

She isn't entirely buying, but she leaves. I turn to Steela.

"Why did we trust her in the first place?"

She closes her eyes. "As soon as Lux hears about this, we're so dead."

 **And so the con artists are conned. Steela's on the right track when it comes to Lux hitting the roof? Their reaction to the blood rubies probably pales in comparison.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, TessaFred, McAwsome, and StarwarsRulz for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	7. Sierra Bonteri: Single Man's Kryptonite

**CHAPTER SEVEN – SIERRA BONTERI: SINGLE MAN'S KRYPTONITE  
**

 **STEELA**

I'm half-tempted to ask the nurse to put Rex on a different pain medication. The one he's currently on has wrapped his brain in velvety sheets, and the last thing I need is my boyfriend gushing constantly over the fact that we're dating, asking for blue Jell-O instead of red (I told him that red was his only option), mumbling over a marriage proposal, and adorably requesting kisses (Okay, his expression was so precious that I had to oblige him once. But just once.)

"Steela?" He asks, putting his now-empty Jell-O cup on his tray table. "Do you-?"

"Not right now, Rex."

"Do you want any children?"

I've caught on that it's easier to give Rex simple answers than to dodge entirely. "Maybe, someday. Get some rest, okay?"

"Okay," he says glumly and slides back down in his bed.

"Rex, are you alright?"

"Yes," he sniffles. "I'm fine. I just -."

"Sierra, get the nurse. We're _definitely_ switching his pain meds," I whisper to Sierra and quickly stride over to Rex. "What is it?"

"I-I don't know if I can give you children," he blurts out. "Some of my brothers have families, but others can't. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry -."

Oh Rex, if only the pain medication wasn't muddling your brain you would remember we had this exact conversation already. And I told you it was okay because I can't get pregnant anyway. "It's okay. I know already."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. Sierra's going to be back soon with some new pain medication for you, okay?"

"I like this medication."

 _Well tough banthas Rex, you're getting a different medicine. We have bigger things to worry about than if you and I are going to have children._

…

The rest of us, sans Mina, meet up in Lux and Hutch's room to figure out how to somehow dig ourselves out of an ever-deepening hole.

"You know that feeling when you're so dead you don't even want to think about it? I'm feeling it. Right now." Hero says.

"If anyone can keep Jenn under control, Mina and Tandin can," Ahsoka promises. "Right now, we've got to get the guys out of here, now."

"Jenn's smooth move admittedly did get rid of Black Sun," I say. "Or at least it distracted them enough to have to worry about two things. Unfortunately, we have to worry about just as many."

"Which is why we're leaving," Ahsoka breaks in. "This situation is out of control, and I don't want to know what else will go wrong if we remain here. We're not getting the guys discharged. We're not checking out against medical advice. We're just _leaving."_

I can practically taste the relief. "B-but what about the catheters?"

Hutch, on the same strong pain meds as Rex, decides to speak up. "Babe, Ahsoka pulled a tube out of my -."

"Since catheters freak Mina out, I removed them," Ahsoka explains. "I did it enough during the Clone War; it's no big deal anyway. I don't understand why she won't handle them."

"In light of all the things Mina _can_ do, I don't think it's anything to complain about." Mina is basically a superwoman, a mother to all children, and easily the best nurse I've ever had – and I've had a lot of nurses. If she doesn't want to do catheters, then I'll do them for her for the next million years.

"Anyhow," Ahsoka clears her throat. "This is how it's going to go down. Everyone goes into their guy's room, gets them into a wheelchair, and rolls them out. As long as we don't hit security, it should work out fine."

"Where are we going after we hit the front door? We very well can't take them on the public transport." Hero asks.

Ahsoka swears under her breath; I think she's forgotten that we don't have a speeder.

"Hovertaxi?" I suggest weakly.

"Force only knows when it would get here." She massages her montrals with her fingertips, probably trying to dispel an oncoming headache. "Steela, can you boost a random speeder from the speeder bay? We'll just abandon it along the road somewhere so its owner can get it."

I'm about to tell her I'd need to go back to the ship to get my gear, or at least have a minute to improvise some jigglers when Sierra speaks up.

"I have a plan."

…

"Sierra, this transcends the borders of acceptable grift."

"What gives?"

"Let me put it this way," I say. "That law is in place for a reason, and it's a good reason! It keeps people safe. The only people who are supposed to do what you're proposing are people who are in need."

"Well," Sierra bristles. "We're in need."

…

"Why are you taking my IV bags off the pole?" Rex asks.

"We're going on a trip," I take a second to read the label on one of the bags and _kriff it,_ the nurse hasn't swapped the meds yet. "Rex, you have to be very quiet while we go. It's important."

"Please, do shut up." Saw says from his wheelchair across the room. "I'll tell you all right now how annoying it is when he goes on one of his rants about getting married or having babies."

"Oh stop it," Sierra chides, snapping the wheelchair's footrests into place. "He's drugged out. If anything, you should make a blackmail holo of it when we get home."

I settle Rex into his wheelchair. "Alright, ready to go?"

He grabs for the small flimsi bag sitting on his table. "I need my snacks."

 _That was a close one. Ahsoka told me in no uncertain terms that we need Rex's snacks._ "Okay," I put the bag on his lap and he curls his hands around it before selecting a sweet cracker and munching happily.

"I've heard that Fett clones have notorious sweet teeth, but this is extreme." Saw notices.

"It'll taper off once the pain meds stop. It's like being drunk and hungry," Sierra explains.

"Guys, you need to shut up," I interrupt. "We haven't discharged you two; we're basically kidnapping you."

Saw whistles quietly. "Okay then. Better stay away from the nurses."

 _The nurses._ I'd better make sure they're not looking while we roll past. I side eye the station as we approach and stop short before quickly wheeling Rex into an adjoining hallway. Confused, Sierra follows.

"Sierra, I don't think Jenn's plan worked."

She follows my gaze over to the nurses' station, where two Black Sun goons lean against the counter.

"Snap. I'll take care of this."

"How?" I ask. "How, Sierra? You don't have a plan. You don't have Hutch to get information, and we have to deal with these two idiots in wheelchairs. What weapons do you possibly have against _Black Sun goons?"_

"Single man's kryptonite."

 _"Single man's kryptonite?_ What even is that?"

Sierra reaches into Rex's snack bag, pulls out a wad of napkins, and ducks around the corner.

…

"Oh, if Lux sees this…"

Sierra walks around the corner, wearing what I can only describe as con clothes on steroids. Her flat shoes have been switched out for a pair of high heels, no doubt the ones she carries in her purse at all times. Her sweater sleeves are tied around her neck like a cape, showing off her blouse. A blouse which is now very conspicuously unbuttoned.

As for the napkins, well, let's just say I definitely know what she did with the napkins. Black Sun, as well as every other male in the hallway, also notices.

My only thought – and I actually hear a little voice in my head say this – _is this the reason Sierra wears button-down shirts everywhere she goes?_

She walks up to the nurse's station, her hands filled with datapads and a stack of data chips, and smacks into one of the Black Sun goons. Sheets of flimsi, datapads, and data chips go everywhere.

"Oh, no!" She scrunches up her face pathetically and looks down at the mess. "Oh, what a mess."

One of the Black Sun goons looks like he's about to tell Sierra to scram, but his partner drops to the floor to help her pick up the data chips. Without his partner in the way, he glimpses exactly what Sierra wants him to see.

"It's all right," the guy on the floor says. "Here, let me help you with that."

"Oh, thank you," Sierra gushes. "I'm such a klutz; if my boss finds out I've dropped his files again he'll have a fit with a capital F. It's only my first day." She smiles, batting him a doe-eyed gaze. "I'm Cersei Vashtor."

That's my cue. I dart across the hallway with Rex's wheelchair, hide him in the nearest alcove and then come back before Saw can get the bright idea to roll himself after us with a broken arm.

"I can show you around," the first Black Sun goon says way, way too enthusiastically. From the look on her face, I can tell Sierra is enjoying this way, way too much.

"She's playing them like a fiddle," Rex says.

Saw sniggers. "I'm half-tempted to roll over there and yell 'Hey! That's my wife!'"

"Don't do that. She's got this under control." Still, I keep a sharp eye on the Suns and Sierra, who's smiling and blushing like nobody's business.

"That's so nice of you," Sierra says, smile splitting her cheeks. "I have to get these to my boss or he's going to kill me, but then I get off in ten minutes. Do you want to meet me in the cafeteria? We can have lunch, and then I know a few places."

The second Sun is dubious, but Sierra flashes him a smile of sweet poison and he crumbles. "We'll see you on the first floor."

"I can't wait," Sierra beams as she walks away. As soon as she approaches us she dumps the files on the nearest chair and puts her sweater back on.

"Lux is not going to be happy." Saw says.

"And Lux is going to know absolutely nothing."

I would argue with her over it, but I'll do it later when we're not in the middle of a con. "Okay, enough about Sierra's little stunt. Let's get to the ambulance bay!"

"Ambulance bay?" Saw repeats. "How are we going to get out of the ambulance bay?"

"Simple, Saw. We stole an ambulance."

…

 _"Emergency Services, what is the nature of your emergency?"_

 _A block away from the hospital, Hero St. James clutches her comlink. "Oh my God, I think he's having a seizure! The convenience store on the corner of Main and Fifth! You have to send an ambulance!"_

 _"Don't worry ma'am, the paramedics are on the way."_

 _Hero simply sat on a bench drinking a soda purchased from the convenience store until the ambulance arrived. As soon as the paramedics raced into the door she jumped into the ambulance, shrugged on an EMT's jacket, and sped off._

…

"Ready to go?" Hero asks, tossing me the second jacket.

"I was ready ten minutes ago," I announce, shrugging the coat around my shoulders while Ahsoka helps Mina and Sierra load the guys into the back, chucking the wheelchairs off to the side.

Hero and I hoist Tandin into the ambulance and settle him into a chair.

"Glad to be leaving, Tandin?" After the Lazarus Project, it's no secret that Tandin doesn't like hospitals.

"I'm just glad it's over, Steela, and that you weren't the one in the bed. Bad enough I had to worry about Saw."

"Well you don't have to think about anything now. We're going home for you to rest."

I leave Ahsoka, Sierra, and Mina in the back with the guys and jump into the ambulance's cab, Hero on my heels when my body hits another with an _oof!_

"Hero?"

Hero swallows hard. "Stee…that wasn't me," she says and points, a look of horror on her face.

I turn around slowly, unable to believe my eyes.

"How ya' doing?" Jenn asks.

 **But wait...they ditched Jenn! So how did she end up in the ambulance? That's impossible.**

 **Well, Jenn's definitely a force to be reckoned with.**

 **Thank you to julyza, McAwsome, MusicKeeper, and starwarshobbitfics for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	8. Jenn Never Loses

**CHAPTER EIGHT – JENN. NEVER. LOSES.**

 **AHSOKA**

As soon as I hear Jenn's voice I use the Force to open the window between the cab and the back so I can stick my head through the hole to see Jenn's sneering face.

How did this happen? When we found out what she did to her boss, Mina sent her away so she could sneak Tandin out of his room unnoticed. I followed with Lux, Hero with Hutch, and Sierra and Steela came with the other two after successfully ditching Black Sun by some means which made Saw giggle and Rex smile into his bag of snacks.

"Why are you here?" Hero asks, struggling to keep her voice even.

"Because you were trying to ditch me." She leans against the ambulance's wall. "I'm not stupid, people. I know you wouldn't have sent me out for juice and soup broth for the guy who just ate a cup of ice chips."

Mina flushes pink and from the heat in my montrals I can only guess that my stripes have turned so much black. "You have no idea what you're getting into, Jenn. Get out of the ambulance and I'll make sure you get what's coming to you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jenn says. "And if you even think of trying to ditch me again, remember that I have other ways of getting my money. Black Sun is in the cafeteria. And I think the Empire will even pay a Pantoran for this kind of information on the Japrael Con Men!"

 _The Japrael Con Men._

 _Oh. My. God._

Steela laughs, a harsh barking sound. "The Japrael Con Men? Wow, you really are desperate!"

"No, I'm just not an idiot." Jenn corrects and points to Sierra. "First off, her name is Sierra."

"Have you been dipping into the pain meds? 'Sierra' is a common name," Sierra protests.

"You're a Sierra who steals; assemble those puzzle pieces in your noggin. Second, you all really hate the Empire, sort of like you're on the run from them. These two have been in the Empire's penal system, so that's even more evidence."

"Lots of people wind up in the penal system," I snap. "This is stupid. We just want to get out of the hospital, and you're accusing us of being intergalactic criminals?"

"Whatever, Ahsoka. You might as well confess, because I have your numbers."

"No, we might as well not," Steela shoots back. "You don't have any evidence that links us back to the Japrael Con Men."

Jenn bites her lip, and finally admits what I guess is the real reason she knows our identities.

"You guys match the wanted holos."

A surge of relief. _Just like I thought. She's smart, but she isn't omniscient. She just watches the news._

"Remember Fiona? She's a criminology and computer science major," Jenn says smugly. "Before I graduated, she had the news running on the holoscreen all the time."

My mind ticks a parsec a minute, unsure of whether to admit it or try another rebuttal when Lux speaks up.

"Well, you've done your research," he admits, in his own accent. "Congratulations on your deductive skills."

I shoot a look at Lux. "What are you thinking?"

"She's already identified us, Ahsoka."

Jenn's hands tic toward the door.

"Hoe don't do it," Hero threatens.

"I don't need to," the Pantoran is suddenly composed again. "If the Empire were to find out you were down half your crew, they'd lick their chops. And you -." She points at Steela and me. "Grand Moff Tarkin hates you two especially. Something about unfinished business. He'd make me a noble."

"You know who we are. You know what he did to us," Steela snaps. "Tried to get Ahsoka executed? Threw me into a cell to go insane? If you're going to do that, why not give Lux here to the Emperor? Rebuild General Kalani from the scrap pile and hand Saw off to him? Give Warden Torrance his old position with Sierra on top?"

"Steela," Tandin warns.

But Steela's on a roll. "Resurrect Barriss and give her Hutch and Hero for a little revenge? Hand Rex over to Vader? And if you think for half a second that Mina would let you do any of those things, you are gravely -."

"STEELA JUNE!"

Steela shuts up.

Rex pauses in his quest for snacks long enough to say "Excuse me. Please don't yell at my girlfriend."

"Listen to Mr. Politeness over there," Jenn advises.

Tandin doesn't seem to care. "Young lady, if you really do know who we are you will remember that I am a _king."_

If there's one entity in the galaxy you don't want to awaken, besides BonScary of course, it's the terror that happens when Tandin is replaced by King Tandin of Onderon. It's said that a man who needs to say "I am the king" is no king at all, but Tandin's is a special case. You _know_ he's the king when he says it. He's just making sure you know _he_ knows it.

If Steela, his stepdaughter and arguably Tandin's favorite, isn't spared then Jenn should very well know that she won't be. And she does.

Tandin turns his attention to the cab again.

"Hero," he orders. "Drive."

…

"I know you have the money. All I want is my payment, and the Empire or Black Sun doesn't have to know anything."

"And what money do we have?" I ask.

Jenn rolls her eyes. "Fire rubies. Give me some of them."

"Those are blood rubies. People die over them every day," Mina argues, trying to bring about a moral point.

"Hiding the stones won't bring them back."

"If we were to give them to you, they'd just be pretty to look at. Without a tracking number no jeweler can or will buy them."

"Black market, baby."

"Black market?" Hero scoffs. "What do you know about the black market?"

"Where do you think we got all the booze for the frat parties? The Empire only lets you buy so much of that stuff."

From the sheer amount of alcohol at the University of Kuat's frat parties, I don't doubt it. "Selling on the black market is an entirely different deal than buying beer. Especially if you're selling _blood rubies._ You'll be killed!"

But force damn it, Jenn has a rebuttal for even that. "I have contacts to help me with it. Now give me the jewels."

"No," Lux breaks in. "You'll get your money, but we're not giving you those jewels. I have plans for them."

"Like what?"

"We're going to give them back to the people who deserve them."

Silence.

"T-the people who deserve them?" Saw says. "Bonteri, if I'm getting this straight you want to give compensation to the ruby miners?"

"No, we'll never find them. We're here to help the people who the mark caught up in his scheme and who Black Sun is probably going after right now. His staff."

"His staff?"

"The janitors, the secretaries – all those people are in Black Sun's crosshairs for what Hutch did." He shoots a look to Hutch.

"Banana," Hutch mutters, staring at the ceiling.

I look to Hero, bewildered.

"What?" she asks, shrugging. "He was moaning about how much it hurt, so I hit his pain pump."

If we were in any other situation I would think it was funny, but we're not. "Lux, the staff? If we give them the rubies, then they're good as dead. Black Sun will think they conspired together to steal them, and even if they make it out alive then they can't navigate the black market."

"If they live here they have to have some idea how it works; you can't get anything good under the Empire," Sierra says. "All we have to do is distribute the stones."

"Just like Father Life Day," Lux completes her sentence.

"And we're going to do that in a stolen ambulance." Saw deadpans.

"Not exactly. We need to bring Rex, Hutch, Saw, and Tandin back to the ship and then ditch the ambulance; no doubt it's been reported missing -."

"I don't hear your name in that lineup," I scold, wagging my finger at Lux. "You have broken ribs. You're going nowhere but bed, honey."

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I can direct the con from bed. Hero, ditch the ambulance in a public place so the authorities can find it, and one in a different section of town than the docks. Steela, our crew is in need of a new speeder and we don't have time to buy one normally, but I saw a dealership on the way here. Can you..?"

"Steal one? It'll be easier than stealing cookies from the cookie jar!"

…

"We're doing just fine," Katooni lies through her teeth when we load the guys into the ship and tuck them into bed.

"Sure," Hero says skeptically, eyeing the melted ice cream smeared across the kitchen table. "Make sure you wipe down the table, Kat. What were you all doing?"

"Just playing some games with the babies and watching holovision. Nothing bad, I swear. Just _Blarney the Purple Gundark_ and _Elba Grain Street."_

Tav loves _Blarney the Purple Gundark_ and _Elba Grain Street_ is educational to boot. With all the stress I can't justify not letting him watch a little. "That's fine for Tav, Katooni. When did you put them down for their naps?"

"Too-ee!" Molly cries, her childish attempt at Katooni's name. "Wan' joo!"

"Juice," Hero snaps to attention. "Katooni, you remembered to water down her juice, right?"

Katooni rolls her eyes. "Yes Mom, I remembered to water down Molly's juice."

"Thank you," Hero pulls Molly's sippy cup from the fridge and hands it to her youngest. "Here you go, Molly. You love your juice, don't you?"

Molly takes one sip and makes a face. "Wan' the bubble joo."

"Bubble juice?" Hero's brow crinkles. "What's bubble juice, Molly? We only have this kind of juice."

"No!" Molly pouts. "Wan' the bubble joo!"

Hero shares a look with me. "Do you have any -?"

"No," a nagging feeling pokes me in the force. "But I sense Katooni does."

Katooni slinks against the wall, looking like the tooka that ate the canary. "Mom. I can explain."

"Spill it, Kat."

"She wouldn't stop crying, so I only gave her a little bit as a special treat! It was like half a sippy cup!" Katooni protests.

"Half a sippy cup of _what?"_

But the meaning of the words "Bubble juice" suddenly strike me like lightning. "Soda?"

Katooni cringes

"Katooni St. James! She's a baby! Babies shouldn't be drinking soda out of their bottles!" Hero yells.

"Nevermind that, did you give Tav and Kiara any?" I demand.

The question is answered for me when my son comes racing around the corner, babbling "MommyMommyMommyMommy!" and vibrating because he's so hopped up on caffeine.

…

The speeder dealership is peaceful compared to the ship, which is filled with the sounds of Molly's tantrum, Hero reading the riot act to Katooni, Tav's caffeine-induced excitement, and Rex's pain-med induced wails that he wants Popsicles.

"Like this one?" Steela asks, grabbing her jigglers out of her pocket and patting a speeder.

"I don't care as long as it drives," Hero announces. "But as far as speeders go, yeah. This one's nice."

"It's settled then," Steela says and slips her tool down the driver's side window to pop the door.

I put a single fire ruby into an envelope, followed by a note reading _IOU one speeder,_ and slide it under the dealership's door. I straighten up when I hear the speeder's engine roar to life.

Steela rolls down the driver's side window while the rest of us pile in, checking out our new speeder.

"Buckle in ladies," she says, checking her reflection in the rear view mirror. "We're gonna steal back what Hutch screwed up."

 **Yup. Katooni messed up a little there, but the ladies are on their way to do what they do best.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, McAwsome, MusicKeeper, and julyza for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	9. Yes

**CHAPTER NINE – YES**

 **STEELA**

"It was your fault!" I yell, pointing at Sierra.

She's affronted. "My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You're the one who brought her on in the first place."

"It's not my job to babysit her either! Last I checked, you were responsible for keeping security over the hauls!"

"And you're the one who keeps security over the outside shills!"

Sierra pauses, and I can practically hear her response before it comes. _Okay, so maybe you have a point._

But she doesn't say that. She says "Hitter duty means security duty, Steela!"

"Okay, both of you stop it," Ahsoka orders. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal. She -!"

"Just get back in the speeder and let's go home. I've had enough drama for today."

…

What were Sierra and I arguing about, you ask?

Simple: fire rubies.

It all comes down to the kriffing fire rubies, doesn't it? The guys got into a car accident after stealing them, Jenn continued to blackmail us because she wanted them, and Black Sun went on a crazy quest to get them back. Well, we intended to do right by them.

We take the pouch back to the mark's staff building and walk around as a group, surreptitiously leaving the stones on secretaries' desks, on custodians' carts, and anywhere we think a stray employee might find them without the mark catching on. I've broken out my pickpocketing skills to slip rubies into people's pockets or wallets.

I feel like an elf from the children's stories about Father Life Day. Heck, I feel like Father Life Day himself, giving some of our score away.

When a woman shouts "Oh my force! Look at the desks!" we know it's time to go.

"You know what? I feel great." Hero says as we look back at the building full of people trying to mask the joy at finding their fire rubies or completely lose control and call relatives, hug their colleagues, or simply celebrate by themselves.

"There's no feeling quite like helping people." Ahsoka agrees.

Jenn shrugs, but I glimpse a little sparkle in her eye.

"Look, while they shouldn't have stolen it in the first place I'm glad we got to make all these people happy," Sierra says. "And we have plenty of credits for Jenn and the Alliance."

"For sure," Jenn leans on the speeder, approximately where I was sitting. "So now that we have that out of the way, let's talk payment. Specifically, my payment."

"We'll give you the stones when we drop you off at the hospital," Ahsoka says and turns back to Hero. "So, should we call the guys?"

"Considering who we're talking about, it can't be a bad idea." Sierra pulls out her comlink and calls her mother, using speakerphone. "Hi Mom. How's everyone doing?"

In the background, I hear a child's gleeful shriek.

 _"Oh, we're fine."_ Mina says. _"I took Tav outside to run off some steam, and I'm pleased to say the caffeine is wearing off. Hero, Katooni got Molly to drink her normal juice."_

Hero sighs in relief. "Thank goodness. How are the guys?"

 _"They're resting. They're just -."_

 _"Grandma, let's play hide and seek!"_

 _"That sounds great, Tav! Ladies, I'm going to have to let you go."_

"We'll be home soon, Mom," Sierra says and hangs up. "Okay, so all we have to do is drop Jenn off at the hospital and – where's Jenn?"

I spin on my heels, checking first the speeder, then the nearby sidewalks, then behind me. But it's no use.

A hovertaxi speeds down the road.

Jenn's gone.

A possibility smacks me in the gut. "Oh my force, where's the bag?"

"Calm down Steela, the bag's right here." Ahsoka snatches it from its place on the console. "See? She must have had a change of heart after seeing all the happiness she caused. Now, let's see how many rubies we have for the Alliance!"

She upends the bag into her hand, and a small handful of breath mints spill out.

We stare at them.

"Well…" Hero trails off.

Ahsoka closes her fist, crushing the mints into dust.

"Kriffing schutta."

…

 _"See you later, nerfherders."_

 _In the backseat of a hovertaxi pulling away from the mark's workplace, Jenn examines her breath mint container, now filled with something much better than peppermint._

 _"Where to?" the cabbie asks._

 _Jenn gives her apartment address and dials her comlink, reveling in her latest victory._

Donating the rubies to the Rebel Alliance? That's a joke, _she thinks._ You don't get to be president of a sorority without having a big ambition. I don't like missing out on a big score.

 _"Hello?"_

 _"Rani!" she greets her roommate with a cheer unknown since they graduated from the university and left Phi Kappa Lambda in the hands of a few trusted juniors. "Rani, tonight we're going to pay off our student loans."_

…

Cue the argument between Sierra and I, which winds on and on and steadily gets louder until Hero and Ahsoka shout "For the love of the force, you two!" and effectively shut us up.

Ahsoka tries to be neutral. "I don't care whose fault it was, and honestly- -."

"It was both of your faults," Hero interjects.

Ahsoka goes on like Hero isn't even there. "I'm too tired to handle anything else. We are going home to say hello to the guys, and then I am putting Tav and Kiara down for their nap and going to bed."

How she's going to do that when they're jacked up on caffeine I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ahsoka's eyes were turning yellow right now. I clamp my lips shut and Sierra does the same, except to say as we dock the speeder, "I'm going to check on Lux."

…

When I slip in to check on Tandin he's already snoring softly. I tiptoe to his bedside and reposition a folded-down blanket on his chest.

"Good night, Tandin."

Tandin snores.

Besides him, my other two responsibilities are housed in the same bedroom, which makes my life a whole lot easier. I nudge the door open.

"Saw? Rex? How are you doing?"

Rex looks up from his datapad. "Hi Steela."

On the other side of the room Saw is asleep, and I know from personal experience not to wake him unless I have a death wish. "Hi Rex. Are you feeling better?"

He nods. "Much."

"And what are you doing with the 'pad?" I sit on the edge of his bed and get a look at what Rex is searching.

 _Results for: "Moons of Rion Wedding Chapels"_

"These are some long-lasting pain meds, aren't they?"

He ignores that last bit. "Look at this one. They have a Sy Snootles impersonator to act as a witness!"

I facepalm. "Rex, do you have any idea what Tandin would do if he found out we got married in a moons of Rion wedding chapel?"

"I have others," he opens a second tab. "Look, this one's in Iziz and they do a Unifras ceremony. You're Unifras. Would you like this one better?"

"I am Unifras -."

"Steela, please elope with me," he begs. "It doesn't have to be one of these chapels. I'll steal a cathedral! I don't care if it's out of the back of a speeder or in the Imperial Palace," he looks up at me. "I want you to be my wife."

"We'll finish this conversation when you're not high on pain meds."

"But -."

"Rex, I want you to be able to remember how you proposed to me, and that's not going to happen if you're high." I cross my arms. "Sit back, relax, and wait for the meds to wear off."

"How was the job?' he asks, changing the subject.

"Well, we lost the score."

"What? How?"

I comb my hair back with my hands. "We brought you guys home and that's all that matters, even if Jenn did steal the fire rubies."

"She didn't get all of them," Rex says.

"What? Yeah Rex, she did. She emptied the bag."

"My snack pack," he holds out the paper bag from the hospital, beaming. "I told Ahsoka it was important we held onto it, and there was a reason why."

He reaches into the bag and pulls out his cherry Jell-O, the Jell-O he whined about wanting but never opened or ate.

And with a hand made steady from years upon years of holding blasters and working at dangerous tasks, he pulls back the foil on the top of the cup to reveal that the gelatin has been carefully hollowed out, leaving just enough along the sides to keep up the appearance of a full cup.

And the cavity is filled with fire rubies.

I can't speak. I can't breathe. All I can do is stare at the most expensive Jell-O the galaxy has ever known.

"A captain," Rex announces, "Never puts all his troops in one place."

…

The pain meds wear off two hours later, when Rex's childish complaints stop like a speeder slammed by a laundry van.

I pop my head back into the room. "Do you have your head again?"

Rex sighs. "Steela, you are a sight for sore eyes."

"Good to see you back in the land of the sane."

"What did I do?"

I wince. "Well, you forgot who I was." He cringes. "Once you heard I was your girlfriend you proposed marriage a few times, we kissed once or twice…" The cringe disappears. "And you pulled off the most creative fire ruby heist I've ever seen."

He blinks. "Excuse me, fire ruby heist?"

"Probably the first and last time in history someone's smuggled gemstones in a Jell-O cup."

The memory pokes through the dusty places in Rex's brain. "I remember something about Jell-O."

"I'll fill you in later, but I have water on the stove and if it boils over Ahsoka will roast me alive. Oh, and Rex?"

He sits up, eyebrows raised. "What is it?"

"Yes."

Rex's face falls in confusion. "Yes? Yes to what?"

I just smile and turn to walk down the hall. "When the Empire falls, yes."

Then I walk away.

"Steela? Steela, what do you mean? Can you come back and explain?"

And then: _"Are you saying yes to what I think you're saying yes to?"_

There's a rustle of the blankets being thrown off the bed and Rex's feet hit the ground, followed by the rapid opening and shutting of drawers. "When the Empire falls? I can live with that. I will happily, _happily_ live with that! Do you want to go to the jewelry store now, or when the Empire falls?"

My smile only grows.

Rex is still asking, all right.

And I'm still saying yes.

 **So, who saw that coming?**

 **I do have something in the works which would follow up on this particular "Yes." It would take the form of two to three oneshots, posted to the existing story "Dating In The Dark Times." If that sounds interesting to you, then just let me know.**

 **Thank you to julyza, MusicKeeper, and Starwarshobbitfics for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review your thoughts on this story and about the potential shorts mentioned above.**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


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